The Meaning of Anxiety is a well-written and very useful compendium of different theories of anxiety, with a particular nod, pre-Freud, to Kierkegaard, as well as to cultural determinants, particularly ideologies of individualism. This scholarly yet extremely accessible study of anxiety--from philosophical, social, theological, literary, cultural as well as biological perspectives--was first published in 1950, and updated by May in 1977. It is still the widest-ranging, richest, most intelligent and insightful exploration of anxiety currently available in one volume. In this postmodern era of hyperbiologism (which presumes anxiety and other symptoms to hold only physical meaning) and resulting wildly popular pharmacological treatments for anxiety, May reminds readers that anxiety has much more than mere biochemical causes and physiological significance: anxiety, insists May, is not necessarily pathological, but rather, a meaningful, necessary, vital and ultimately inextricable aspect of human existence. One could wish books like this would be provided in courses that dwell only on the personal facets of what are now called anxiety disorders.